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Forum:Editing 101
There are 3 rules to editing 1) ALWAYS sign in. Never edit as an anonymous user. 2) If you make a mistake and create a junk page, make sure we know it's a junk page so we can delete it. For example, if you made a template and forgot to capitalize certain letters in the name, you'll need to delete that template and start a new one (or rename the page). Tell us! 3) Check the help desk frequently, even if you aren't encountering a problem. Often times, helpful editing information is posted there instead of here. (Don't ask me why.) Editing 101 Editing is literally as easy as clicking Edit. But then what? There are 2 different editing "views." Text and Source. The Text View is the default view, and is very similar to Microsoft Word or any wordprocessor you would use. It has a tool bar at the top where you can make things bold, underlined, etc. Source View is the best view, and only view I use when editing. Some pages can only be edited in Source View. To get to Source View, click the Source tab to the right of the screen just above the toolbar, and next to the Visual tab. Sometimes, there is not a Source or Visual tab, but there will be a "three horizontal lines" button instead. If that is the case, click that button, and then select Source Editor. You can now enter text and code. Common code can be found on the Wikia help pages. Also, one of the best ways to learn how to code is to find a complicated page, and click edit. Study the code and see if you can figure out what does what. Note: Please do not actually change that page while you are learning what the code does. ''' If you want to experiment, create a blank page and paste the code into that. Two Important Facts About Source View 1) Source View has automatic spellcheck. Text View does not. 2) Skiping one line for a break between text will actually drop you several lines in the actual page. So always Preview your work before Publishing. Common Code Double equal signs before and after make the sentence look like this '''Three apostrophies before and after make things bold. Two Straight Brackets before and after a page name will make a link to that page. Links in red are links to pages that don't exist yet. Links in blue are links to pages that do exist. BillK3rd 21:56, June 7, 2011 (UTC) Wiki Requests (Uniformity, Writing, Etc.) In order to make the wiki more professional and easier to navigate and manage, I'd appreciate it if all members followed a level of uniformity with pages. These are a few simple requests that will help the wiki and may even help you get going as a new member. 1) All pages must be capitalized. Not just the first word but all words even if it's not a proper noun (excepting articles, prepositions, and conjunctions). E.g. It should be "Uniform Shirt" not "Uniform shirt". It's not a major issue because you can go through and rename a page fairly easy but as the wiki expands it is hard to police all the pages. 2) Try to fix your links whenever possible. If a link is red (not working) and you're pretty sure that the page actually exists then try to work and fix it. Maybe your word is misspelled (maybe the page you are linking to is misspelled). Maybe you are linking to "High Adventure Bases" but the actual page is "BSA High Adventure Bases." Rule number one also works in this direction. Links are case sensitive so if not all the first letters are capitalized then the link won't work. 3) Use spell-check. Bill mentions above about spell-check in "source" view. Write in visual if you prefer (I prefer it) but always switch to source to spell-check before publishing. Proofreading is great but if you don't have the time then please make the time to at least spell check. 4) Use proper capitalization. By this I mean the use of common nouns as proper nouns. The Van, the Cabin, the Cannon, the Wolf Patrol, the Birthday, etc. are all proper nouns and should be capitalized. Troop and scout MAY be proper nouns if referring to Paoli 1 or Scouting as a movement and organization. They are common nouns when talking about generic things (E.g. "The troops line up for retreat." "Each patrol has troop gear." "The scouts attend the sleepouts." etc.). It can be tough to get it right but please try. 5) Link! Link like crazy! That's the point of the wiki, to create interconnecting pages. Without links the wiki is limited and harder to navigate. Linking every page back to Paoli 1 for easy navigation back home is a good starting point and it's also good to link back to the parent page (E.g. High Adventure Bases links back to Summer Trips). Of course you're also going to want to link out to new pages. Even if a page isn't created yet, if it seems like something that is worth a page, even if the priority to create it is low, then go ahead and put in a dead link as a marker for someone else (or yourself) to come back and make the page or even just to create similar dead links elsewhere so when the page is created numerous pages will already be coded to it. 6) Try to make pages topics as precise as possible. Broad topics should have a parent page that branches out but many "minor" things deserve their own page. E.g. Uniform is it's own page which branches off into numerous types of uniforms which branch off into the components of those uniforms. Big long detailed pages can be great but it's often much easier to read a more specific smaller page if properly linked. 7) Don't be afraid to link off the wiki. It's great to include and paraphrase from other sources but it's even better to tack on a link to the full source at the end. Not only does this allow a reader further information but it avoids plagiarism. This isn't the actual wikipedia but if you directly quote from a source then please cite them or provide a link rather than just copying or "stealing" the information. Scout sites are of course the best to link to but regular wikipedia articles, news articles, pages for trip destinations, etc. are all great. So long as you tell the reader where they are going it is fine to include. 8) Jump right in! I've written about 90% of these pages by myself and I am always eager to have someone else write to help me. The worst that's going to happen is that I'm going to review your article and edit it but that's the point of a wiki, peer review. Most of the time I will simply expand on your writing or bring it into uniformity with the site. Even just a small blurb on a new page is a starting point for me or others to build on. If you see that red link staring up at you and you think you have knowledge on the topic then go right on in and start a page. This is your wiki as much as it is mine. Graves07 20:04, June 7, 2012 (UTC)